1. Field of the Invention
This Invention generally relates to vehicle armor, specifically to an improved armor system to defeat explosive threats.
2. Prior Art
The initial fixes in 2003 to High Mobility Multipurpose Wheeled Vehicles (HMMWV)s have not been adapted to the growing number of threats with growing destructive capabilities emerging in combat areas such as Iraq. The simple and most common Improvised Explosive Device (IED) in 2003 consisted of an artillery round alongside a road with a wired or wireless remote detonator. In 2007 U.S. Forces are facing more significant threats, such as Explosively Formed Penetrators (EFP)s, designed to kill tanks, Bradleys, Light Armored Vehicles (LAV)s, Strikers, Mine Resistant Ambush Protected (MRAP) I Armored Vehicles, and significant overmatch for armored HMMWVs. New MRAP armored vehicles are designed to carry six to ten soldiers, providing the enemy with a larger target. Threats significantly overmatch all light armored vehicles. Underbody blasts significantly overmatch light armored vehicles, partly because such vehicles typically have flat bottoms and are low to the ground, partly because these existing vehicles' undercarriage provides no path for the explosive energy from an under-the-vehicle IED or other major explosive to escape and partly because of armoring that is insufficient against the explosive power used. Additionally, crew size is growing with new vehicles, the result of which is just a larger target.
Basic physics and engineering analysis show the importance of deflecting, rather than absorbing, the energy of a blast. The invention described in this disclosure facilitates deflecting and diverting the energy of the blast so that armoring need only protect from the portion of the blast that remains undeflected and undiverted.